Edible, wild-harvested seaweeds and Australian native ingredients like Saltbush and Davidson plum, are on the rise in gourmet foods. I have taste tested four Australian dark chocolate bars with added superfoods, to find the most delicious and nutritious.
‘Super’ plant foods have unique nutrition that offer us vitamins, minerals and bioactives in wholefood form. In my view, more nutrients in every bite throughout your day equals better performance and overall wellbeing. There is evidence to suggest wholefoods are the perfect package of building blocks synergistically working together through the complex and anciently coded human digestive system to ensure a more complete nutrient uptake.
Why seek out nutrient-dense plant foods today? Stresses of daily life and modern pollutants deplete our bodies of their protective nutrients more than ever before. Conventional farmed foods are not as nutritious as a century ago. This is why supplementing your menu with natural superfoods (and micro-doses can be all you need) is a delicious way to feel your best.
Firstly, we must talk about the main superfood in dark chocolate: cacao!
Dark chocolate is made with cacao beans and has more of this good stuff and less added sugar than milk chocolate. Shared to the world 500 years ago by Europeans after discovery in South and Central America, chocolate had special status for indigenous rulers and as ‘food of gods’ in ceremonies. Today, chocolate can be eaten by all but remains just as valued with a gram literally worth its weight in gold, at approximately $100/kg or more.
Cocoa or cacao? A multicultural anagram
Cacao (Spanish) is the name of the plant and its fruit and the beans used to make chocolate. On the other hand, cocoa (Dutch) has had the natural fats (cacao butter) separated from the bean mass and so has a longer shelf-life, as well as, being more versatile for various recipes. From a nutrition stance, cacao is more nutrient-dense than cocoa but don’t let that stop you eating the powdered form, it's like comparing awesome with more awesome.
Superhero plant chemicals
Just like colourful fruits and vegetables, cacao has molecular polyphenols that give antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Cocoa polyphenols also release nitric oxide in the body, critical for many functions of blood vessels, neurotransmitters, hormone release, to name a few. One such polyphenol is a flavonoid and clinical studies show chocolate flavonoids benefit the cardiovascular system such as for healthy blood pressure and blood sugar stability.
Theobromine, the main alkaloid of the cacao beans, as well as cacao’s natural amounts of caffeine, are two reasons we crave chocolate. Small amounts of natural stimulants feel good, and in moderation, do good, improving mood and alertness. Theobromine also has anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular system benefits.
It’s not only the heart but also the brain that dark chocolate can influence. A study showed that a daily small amount of seven grams of dark chocolate taken in the morning with milk changed the electrical brain waves measured on an electroencephalogram in comparison to ‘milk only’ placebo participants. Within 30 minutes the brain electrical activity increased Alpha electrical currents (for passive attention) as well as increased Beta (for active engagement) and decreased Theta (for daydreaming, auto-pilot or deep relaxation) and decreased Delta brain waves (for sleep). After a week of daily doses, Alpha and Beta brain waves continued to increase overall, like a compounding effect (no pun intended!)
“Chocolate is also among the richest natural food sources of magnesium…Cocoa flavanols reverse signs of cognitive aging and improve blood flow to the brain, and even athletic performance…(in a study) those who ate chocolate at least once a week were found to have stronger cognitive performance on visual-spatial memory and working memory and tests of abstract reasoning.” – Max Lugavere, author of Genius Foods.
Fermented foods are also superfoods
The traditional fermentation of cacao beans is still the best way to achieve the tastiest ‘medicinal’ chocolate and is made by hand in small batches. Fermentation is human food craft honed over generations and can completely transform food into something much more digestible and tasty. Roasting fermented cacao beans is also an important step in its transformation into a superfood and delicacy. Finally, to achieve a texture we have come to love, tempering is also needed (gently heating and working the ground, melted bean paste until it is cool). Dark chocolate is as bitter as black coffee and just as varied and complex based on its geographical source. This is why you see percentages on bars like 69% or 85% as some of the higher amounts are so bitter that they are palatable but not delicious. If you can tolerate the bitterness, ‘human approved’ bitter foods often are medicinal and packed with chemicals our bodies can use to constantly regenerate. I think of the European custom of eating bitter greens at the end of winter to cleanse the body for spring, or drinking an alcoholic digestive like grappa or amaro (‘amar’ is the root word for bitter in Latin).
How amazingly healthy is dark chocolate! Combine with more superfoods like wild fruits and push your daily performance even further. Here is the winner from my tough job of tasting four handmade Australian dark chocolate bars with added superfoods, followed by three runners-up. This is a fun game with friends if you are inspired. Two friends with impeccable taste and well-trained palates agreed on this lineup.
WINNER
ALG Raspberry & Rainbow Seaweed™ Dark Chocolate
63% dark chocolate from Panama and Dominican Republic in partnership with Australian roasters Ratio.
Size: 70g
Price $12.75
Made in: Melbourne Australia
Organic ingredients: Majority organic ingredients minus one of the five seaweed varieties.
Extras: The founder is a dietician who wants you to get more goodness in every bite.
Superfood highlights:
Seaweeds: Alg has four types of organic seaweed: dulse, sea lettuce, nori, and winged kelp. As well as Tasmanian wakame, making five into its trademark Rainbow blend, and is organically farmed and wild harvested from around the world. Sea ‘weed’ really needs a brand makeover. They include a huge array of edible marine plants. The five here are macro algae (large enough to see; the other kinds are microalgae), and can be as as delicately translucent and wispy as sea lettuce, or as large as shrubs or trees in kelp 'forests'. Seaweed has been eaten by coastal human communities for eons and traded inland for its valuable nutrients including minerals and salts. Seaweed is a natural source of iodine, vitamin B12, iron and magnesium.
“Since pre-Christian times seaweed was used throughout the Mediterranean for its medicinal properties. People from Wales make laverbread from edible seaweed found along the coastline.” Hawaiian People also traditionally eat seaweed (limu) as an important part of their diet for its nutritional benefits. – Sarah Leung, the Founder of Alg Seaweed.
Raspberry the queen of berries and so good for you! This chocolate bar has freeze-dried berry pieces sprinkled on top and the colour against the dark chocolate pops. Doctors of functional medicine say berries are the best fruit choice because they are also low in sugar and per weight berries have so many beneficial bioactives for your body to use. Dr Terry Wahls, author of The Wahls Protocol, says you can safely eat a cup of berries everyday and no other fruits for optimal health.
ALG Tasting notes:
The superfoods are in pieces sprinkled on top and this visual is very enticing. The raspberry is tart and sweet, and brings the cosy nostalgia of the classic raspberry-chocolate combination that Australians love. The five seaweed varieties add savoury umami and heaps of flavour complexity. You get even more complexity with the chocolate being a blend rather than single origin for a ‘broad flavour profile'. My mouth was still watering afterwards. This is a very moreish chocolate bar. Interestingly, this bar has the same amount of sodium as the other chocolates even though seaweed is famously salty. From a ‘clean eating’ perspective, I loved that this bar has no added sunflower lecithin (a natural stabiliser or emulsifier) like the other two brands. My final note is practical, after opening, store in the fridge as the freeze-dried raspberry is fragile to spoilage. The inner packaging also has gorgeous cacao illustrations rather than a plastic wrapper which added another level to the special moment of eating boutique gourmet chocolate. I will be recommending to everyone.
SECOND PLACE
LOVING EARTH Lemongrass & Davidson Plum Superfood Chocolate ‘wellbeing bar’
69% dark chocolate with ethical regenerative cacao from Peru.
Size: 70 g
Price: $8.50
Made in: Melbourne Australia.
Organic ingredients: approximately 97% of ingredients are organically sourced.
Extras: The plastic wrap is home compostable and made using sustainably managed plant sources.
Superfood highlights:
Gubinge or Kakadu Plum is the most well-known of Australian bush foods. The green fruit of a tropical woodland tree can also be eaten raw when ripe and resembles a green olive. Gubinge provides essential vitamins like vitamin E, iron, folate, zinc, magnesium, calcium, lutein (a carotenoid vitamin valuable to eye health), as well as antioxidants. Gubinge has the highest concentration of vitamin C of all edibles, 100 times more than oranges. The certified organic wild-crafted powder makes up 2% or 1.4g of the whole bar, a very generous dose.
Davidson Plum is an Australian bush food that is also rich in antioxidants. A rainforest tree provides plum-sized fruit with deep purple skin and bright red flesh. You can also be eaten raw when ripe. High in folate, zinc, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, copper and lutein. 1% of the bars total weight is Davidson plum powder.
Lemongrass is an amazing ingredient and one of my favourite aromas as well. The uplifting citrus zest will bring on a smile. Loving Earth chose to use natural lemongrass flavouring (perhaps even an essential oil extract) and it dominates the flavour in a good way.
LOVING EARTH Tasting notes:
A rich creamy-textured, smooth dark chocolate. This bar has no superfood pieces, they are seamlessly integrated in powder form. The lemongrass has been concentrated into a natural flavouring to add a big impact. This flavour combo will have you stimulated and revived through ‘3.30-itis’ as good as any other classic herbal pick-me-up like peppermint. I will be buying again. If price was a major factor to this taste-test this would be my winner. Loving Earth has two other superfood chocolates highlighting South American fruits lucuma and maca. Having only one with Australian native botanicals I hope Loving Earth release more Aussie flavours soon! (Hint. Hint.)
RUNNER UP - A TIE
BSKT chocolate blocks, both Davidson Plum and Salt Bush
70% dark chocolate from West Africa.
Size: 90g
Price: $9.95
Made in: Gold Coast Australia.
Organic ingredients: The majority is not organic, the cocoa mass. Organic ingredients include the coconut sugar and Davidson Plum (1%) as well as in the second bar; Old Man Saltbush (1%).
Extras: The three business leaders include Titans football team mates, Greg Bird (Anaiwan people of Wonnarua country, Australia) and Selasi Berdie (Ewe people of Ghana, West Africa, and where chocolate is sourced) as well as James Bird (of Bundjalung country, Australia).
Superfood highlights:
Davidson plum is an Australian native bush food, ‘a staple in the diet of Indigenous people of Australia, for tens of thousands of years for its rich source of Vitamin E, Zinc & Calcium, as well as it's plentiful antioxidant quantities.’ – BSKT brand story. See more details in the Loving Earth section above.
Old Man Saltbush is an Australian native bush food from an evergreen shrub of the dry inland. There are 60 different native species and a few of the more digestible have been farmed as well. It is the leaves, available all year around, that provide health benefits in this chocolate. ‘Saltbush is an excellent source of protein and contains beneficial calcium and is a rich source of antioxidants that has been used in Indigenous cooking cultures for centuries.’ – BSKT brand story.
BSKT Tasting notes:
This brand has great story as well as packaging so I was disappointed because both chocolates had a chalky texture and I missed the luscious mouth feel of a well-tempered chocolate. Given their total fat content and saturated fat content are higher than the chocs above at 46% I believe it was in the making, not the ingredients, that the chocolate wasn't given its chance to fully shine. I couldn’t sense the added vanilla flavouring either. The Saltbush and Davidson plum are added as powder and fully integrated into the bar so there are no pieces to chew.
The Davidson Plum bar tastes slightly tarter but otherwise the chocolates taste very similar and the saltbush bar does not have a salt-sweet combo that you may hope for such as from a ‘salted caramel’ type chocolate that makes your mouth water. It isn’t salty at all. Interestingly, it has more than 10 times the sodium of the seaweed chocolate bar above yet does not taste 10 times saltier. Overall, the two flavours are not memorable and the chalky texture is a major faux par in any chocolate, no matter how healthy were the intentions of its conceptualisation (perhaps to limit heating). Both recipes need a revisit to bring them up to par to BSKT’s impeccable brand story.
Wrap up
That is my Aussie superfood dark chocolate roundup. I urge you to make like a functional medicine doctor and eat dark chocolate daily. Plus get more wild, nutrient-dense foods into every bite to enhance daily performance and feel your best.
References:
Alice, L. and O’Quinn, T. Australian Bush Superfoods. Hardy Grant Travel. 2017.
Lugavere, M; Grewal, P. Genius Foods: 1 (Genius Living). HarperCollins. 2018.
Wahls MD, Terry. The Wahls Protocol. Ebury Publishing. Revised and updated edition. 2020.
All images sourced from brands' online stores (links in sections).